Bakker`s Resignation Jolts Religious Right

March 21, 1987|By Bruce Buursma, Religion writer.

The resignation of a major American television evangelist in the aftermath of allegations he paid blackmail to suppress publicity about a sexual encounter sent shockwaves Friday throughout the country`s conservative Christian camp.

Jim Bakker`s departure from the PTL Inspirational Network and his syndicated cable religious broadcast, disclosed to viewers of the daily ``Jim and Tammy`` show Friday, also raised broad questions about the future prospects for the South Carolina-based network and affiliated religious theme park the controversial evangelist has directed for more than 12 years.

In a surprise move, the leadership of the empire, which raised $129 million in contributions last year, was turned over to fellow religious broadcaster Jerry Falwell, who said he would not play a key on-air role in programming for PTL.

The choice of Falwell, an independent Baptist pastor and conservative political activist from Lynchburg, Va., to serve as chairman of the board of the enterprise was viewed by many as mystifying because he has been publicly critical toward the tongues-speaking Pentecostal theology generally espoused on the PTL cable network.

In terminating his relationship with the interdenominational PTL network and the Heritage USA park, Bakker, 47, also resigned as a clergyman in the Assemblies of God denomination. In a statement given to the Charlotte (N.C.)

Observer on Thursday, Bakker said he was ``appalled at the baseness of this present campaign to defame and vilify me,`` although he said he paid blackmail in an attempt to cover up a sexual liaison.

The Observer reported it was investigating allegations that a church secretary named Jessica Hahn received $115,000 in 1985 after she said she had sex with the evangelist in a Florida hotel in December, 1980. The newspaper said Hahn was 21 years old at the time of the encounter, and quoted her as saying that she has demanded ``no blackmail, no extortion.``

In his statement, Bakker said he was ``wickedly manipulated by treacherous former friends and then colleagues who victimized me with the aid of a female confederate. They conspired to betray me into a sexual encounter at a time of great stress in my marital life. Vulnerable as I was at the time, I was set up as part of a scheme to co-opt me and obtain some advantage for themselves over me in connection with their hope for position in the ministry.``

Bakker, a native of Muskegon, Mich., and an early colleague of religious broadcaster and presidential hopeful Pat Robertson, has not appeared regularly on his daily talk show since early January, shortly after he presided at a groundbreaking for a 30,000-seat, $100 million church building constructed as a replica of London`s Crystal Palace.

Network officials said he has retreated to Palm Springs, Calif., where his wife and TV co-host, Tammy Faye Bakker, is recuperating and undergoing therapy for drug dependency. The couple disclosed the nature and extent of her ailment in an emotional 30-minute videotape message broadcast on their PTL show last week.

Bakker`s resignation brings to an apparent close one of the most meteoric and troubled careers ever forged by a television preacher. Boyish-looking and mercurial, Bakker developed a large and loyal following of ``partners`` who gave tens of millions of dollars to help build the theme park into a major tourist attraction and haven for charismatic-oriented Christians.

He also was dogged by criticism of an administrative style that was long on ideas but short on detailed follow-through, haphazard financial planning for the rapidly growing ministry, and a lavish personal lifestyle. Bakker and his wife characterized those attacks as the work of the devil, and routinely emerged from those trials with redoubled energy and new visions for the development of the enterprises.

One ordained clergyman in the Assemblies of God asserted that PTL is in need of its most spectacular miracle to date if it is to survive this latest setback.

``Jim and Tammy definitely have a following, and the challenge for the new leadership is to hang onto that,`` he said. He said Falwell would provide much-needed ``credibility`` for the network, but added that he would not rule out a return some day by Bakker.

``I don`t think he can walk back on the set and pick up where he left off,`` he said. ``But we always believe a person can regain his usefulness for the kingdom of God.``

The network announced that PTL`s executive vice president, Rev. Richard Dortch, a former superintendent of Assembly of God parishes in Illinois, would succeed Bakker as the host of the daily program.